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We bet most of you don’t even know what the contenders are for Oscar’s best foreign film. But the folks at the Wooden Spoon in Plano do, and they’re rooting for their favorite, Norway’s Kon-Tiki.

lefse

Wooden Spoon, for those of you who don’t know your lefse (Norwegian flatbread) from your krumkake (Norwegian waffle cookie), is a Scandinavian oasis in Plano, part store, part community center, the place where you can get your Troentorp clogs special ordered in all sizes and colors, paint with the Uff Da Rosemaling Club (every second Tuesday from 10-12) and take a Kransekage (Danish wreath cake) class (Feb. 23 at 1, all materials included).

krumkake

Kon-Tiki is the story of Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian scientist who could not swim, but sailed across the Pacific Ocean in a balsa raft for 101 days just to prove that people really could make that journey hundreds of years ago.

And, since you were asking, the other nominees for best foreign film (and even longer shots) are A Royal Affair, War Witch and No. We’ll find out the winner at the Oscars telecast Sunday, Feb. 24. If it is Kon-Tiki, at least we can look forward to toasting it over a cup of gløgg.

International film followers don’t need much introduction to Michael Haneke. But plenty of casual observers have to be wondering: Who’s this Austrian guy with the new film, Amour, that picked up five Oscar nominations, including best picture, direction and original screenplay? I’ll try to answer that question with an in-depth look at Haneke’s career in this Sunday’s Dallas Morning News. He’s long been among my favorite filmmakers – his harrowing 2001 film The Piano Teacher made my best-of decade list – and with his last two films, The White Ribbon and Amour, he’s at the top of his game. His movies, rife with suffering, are rarely easy to watch. But his fearlessness and craftsmanship are impossible to deny

On this week’s show Stephen and I sit down with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Knoxville to talk about action movies, gun violence, staying in shape at 65 and the new movie The Last Stand. (Added bonus: Multiple readings of “I’ll be back”). Plus: We discuss the exquisite, shattering Amour, a brutally honest film about death and love. Listen up right here, and get thee to iTunes to subscribe.

Free Angela & All Political Prisoners is among my favorites from the Toronto International Film Festival.

I’m returning stateside today, which means it’s time to tally my five favorites from the Toronto International Film Festival (the festival runs through Sunday). As you read keep this in mind: I skipped some of the big movies due soon in wide release. They’ll get plenty of due as what looks like a bountiful fall/winter season plays out.

And so, in alphabetical order, my Toronto honor role:

Amour – Michael Haneke’s piercing drama of old age and undying love was the first film I screened at the festival, and I knew immediately it would prove tough to match. Highlights: epically brave acting by Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, and another unflinching look into the abyss cast by Haneke.

The Master – P.T. Anderson’s latest dazzler is less about Scientology than the battered psyche beneath the strutting facade of post-World War II America. Highlights: a career peak performance by Joaquin Phoenix and Anderson’s usual poetic mastery of pure cinema. It opens in Dallas Sept. 21.

Thanks for Sharing - The Kids Are All Right screenwriter Stuart Blumberg nails a tricky comic tone in his directorial debut, an ensemble about a 12-step sex addiction group that includes Mark Ruffalo and Tim Robbins. Highlights: great chemistry between Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow, and strong Hollywood storytelling applied to a risky subject.

TORONTO – One underrated thing about the Toronto International Film Festival, which kicked off Thursday: It’s pretty easy to get to. Those of us without the means to frolic in the South of France for Cannes have a much easier time hopping over the border and settling in for a week of gourmet movies. There’s also this: For all of its deserved reputation as the launching pad for awards season – and we’ll cover the big films extensively – Toronto also gives North Americans their first chance to see many of the international films that first made waves at Cannes.

So it is that the two best Toronto films I’ve seen so far are wrenching French love stories that premiered at the fancy affair across the pond.

Michael Haneke’s Amour won Cannes’ highest honor, the Palm d’Or. It stars two living legends of the French screen, Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintingant, as a couple facing mortality together, not always with grace. They give two of the bravest performances I’ve ever seen, especially Riva, who disintegrates before our eyes, nobly and then desperately.

The German-born Haneke, who also won the Palm for 2009′s The White Ribbon, is a fearless observer of human frailty. He combines aesthetic discipline and austerity with a willingness to stare into the void. Amour left me dazed in its aftermath; when I saw acquaintances in the lobby on the way out all I could do was mumble and nod.

Jacques Audiard’s Rust & Bone can be tough as well, but it’s a different kind of animal. Audiard, whose crime drama A Prophet was my No. 2 film of 2010 (the year it opened up in Dallas), proves a master of high-wire melodrama in Rust & Bone. It’s a romance of sorts, between a street fighter (Matthias Schoenaerts) who won’t grow up and a woman (the great Marion Cotillard) restarting her life after a horrific accident. But the real sensuality resides in Audiard’s filmmaking, the primacy he grants every image and the risks he takes as a storyteller. In its own way Rust & Bone packs just as strong a punch as Amour.

I’m scheduled to speak with Cotillard on Friday, and I’ll post some highlights. For now, I envy anyone yet to see these two films, both due out later this year.